Renovating

Saltspring tower home built to last

This 'tower house' dominates a high point of rock and stone on Saltspring Island. The home mimics a style that's hundreds of years old, and includes a rounded turret.

Photograph by: Handout photo
, Vancouver Sun

The next time you happen to be at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal on Vancouver Island, take a peek across the water at Saltspring. If your gaze lands on the right spot, you’ll see something that resembles a medieval castle.

It’s actually a Scottish-style tower house.

“Tower houses look like they emerge from the landscape, and were commonly constructed for defence,” explains architect George Grams of Inveresk Design Build, based on Saltspring Island. “They’re built out of stone, on cliffs or rocky outcrops, not on soil.”

The owners of the home – a retired computer industry professional and his wife – have close ties to the United Kingdom, and had seen tower houses in Scotland. They had been considering contemporary West Coast architecture for their 65-hectare Saltspring Island property, but ultimately decided they wanted something unique. The terrain in one particular area – a cliff with a spectacular view of the water – reminded them of Scotland, so they arrived at the idea of going with a building style dating back hundreds of years.

Grams received his architectural training in the United Kingdom more than 40 years ago, and his entire career has been focused on working with stone buildings. Based on his experience, he convinced the owners that a tower house was the way to go.

That meant including the traditional defensive features seen in tower houses, even though there is clearly little chance they would be needed in as peaceful a place as Saltspring.

And those features are numerous.

A traditional metal gate known as a “yett” marks the entrance; bars woven horizontally into the design meant it would be very difficult for hostile fighters to pry the gate open.

A spiral staircase gave defenders the advantage of higher ground in a sword fight. They would be able to feel their way upward with their dominant hands while having higher ground.

“They were built clockwise ascending so that you could use your right side to help find your way,” Grams explains. “In families where people tended to be left-handed, the stairs were built the other way.”

The home has a turret, where combatants could cast projectiles down on an angry horde of invaders. Corbels – which look almost like upside down staircases – are on strategic points of the exterior of the house, and there to prevent attackers from using grappling hooks.

The tower house also has two fireplaces – one large enough to roast an ox in, if the owners are so inclined – and sliding bookcases that lead to an area of concealment known as a priest’s hole. They date back to the Scottish Reformation of the 16th century, an era of religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics.

The home has some other noteworthy features, as well.

Stone tends to be used on the West Coast mainly as a decorative feature on exterior walls, or a feature element for floors and countertops, but Grams makes the case that entire stone construction makes sense from a sustainability standpoint.

“Think about it in terms of durability and longevity,” he says. “Stone buildings will be around for three or four hundred years. Most of the energy use associated with stone is with the transporting of it, but amortize that against the life of the building and it really ends up being very little.”

He points out that stone homes require little maintenance, other than an occasional washing and a check of the mortar once a decade for signs of cracking.

Grams says it’s a misperception that stone buildings are drafty or damp, since modern thermal insulation techniques have taken care of that. Potential seismic issues have been addressed by anchoring the home with rebar set into a solid metre of rock, and using reinforced concrete in the walls.

A home designed for defence could come across as grim — not to mention unnecessary — but there’s room for whimsy here. A weather vane atop the roof looks like a kipper, with penguins, polar bears, quails, and camels pointing the cardinal directions. Seven gargoyles are beautiful rather than frightening, drawing on influence from first nations art as they represent a salmon, an orca, an eagle, a bear, a seal, a raven and a raven mask.

The majority of the exterior walls were built out of ledgestone, with the decorative elements made out of yellow sandstone. Floors are green sandstone, and concrete walls have been rendered in lime to echo a traditional look.

It took just over four years to take the home from concept to completion, and getting the heavy stone into place had its challenges. But considering the end product and how long it will last, Grams says it was worth it.

“Stone isn’t a material you can hurry. If you want a medium boiled egg, you have to wait three and a half minutes. If you want it in two (minutes), it won’t be right. Stone is the same way.”

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